Richard Contartesi Is An Effective Speaker - 903 Words

Richard Contartesi is an excellent speaker, and he introduced the audience to the hard choices of drunk driving. In fact, â€Å"someone is injured in a drunk driving incident every 120 seconds† (Jacobs, 1989). Due to this, Richie persuaded the somber audience to ponder the consequences of drinking and driving. In the final stages of his speech, people lavished him with a great applause, and he successfully persuaded me and many other audience members to take driving under the influence seriously, and to abstain from participating ourselves. Richie has a unique method of speaking. He presents a fact that is astounding, and then uses the audience’s immediate attention to introduce the problem. For example, Richie narrated to us a story about his friend, and the personal consequences he has felt. Richie’s friend, was drunk when he decided to drive home from school. On his way home, he swerved into the incoming lane, and killed a mother of two kids; the passenger was airlifted to the hospital, and Richie’s friend was partially ejected and crushed by his own vehicle (Contartesi, 2016). Upon hearing this story, members of the audience were astounded, and the emotional pathos he used produced the intended result of establishing his credibility. Since this was a personal issue to Richie, he had experienced it himself, and he won the audience’s trust. Also, he was able to successfully persuade most of the audience because of his emotional narrative that drove some to tears. Richie is a